KEXP Reviews

The second album released this year by Neil Young with his longtime rock band Crazy Horse (and the first album of original material they’ve recorded in nearly 10 years) is a companion piece of sorts to his new autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, with Young ruminating on the past while occasionally railing against the present. A 2-CD set that’s over 88 minutes long with the epic opener “Driftin’ Back” alone clocking in 27+ minutes and two others at over 16 minutes, the gauntlet is thrown down at those with short attention spans. (That said, even “Driftin’ Back” flies by a lot sooner than its running time would indicate.) More important, it could be his finest album since 1990’s Ragged Glory, a gloriously defiant, monstrous beast powered by sprawling, lyrical guitar jams and classic-sounding Young melodies, with Young’s wavering tenor sounding as powerful as ever. 11/2/2012
- Don Yates